1. Android has nothing that compares to the functionality of Siri. Period.

2. Siri works as long as you have a data connection of any sort (Siri needs to connect to Apple's servers in order to work...this is why she wasn't working as well when the phone came out on the 14th...Apple's servers were overloaded and couldn't handle all of Siri's requests).

3. Having to root your Android to get the same functionality/OS upgrades is hardly functional. I'll be the first to admit that iOS still misses the mark on a lot of things for me, and I will be jailbreaking 5th iPhone when it's available.

4. The Nexus *seems* nice and all, but until it's released and there are relative comparisons, it's all just specs. Same with the Razr.

5. I'm honestly disappointed with the lack of some upgrades that I expected with this release (larger screen, more RAM), but the quickness over the 4 is just astounding. On the flip side, even with conditioning and cycling, battery life has me a bit on the flustered side. If not for my external battery case, I'd be screwed every day.

6. Tell Siri you want some weed.

7. I've had no problems with 6FL on my 4, and there have been no fundamental changes in the connection port of the phone, so the snap-in adapter should work, as well. My phone charges just fine, and plays music just like it used to.

8. Siri works on the 4, but it's not available to the general public yet. I'd also have some concern about Apple's servers noticing that iPhone 4's are connecting to the Siri network, and realizing they're likely jailbroken phones, and what they might do as a result.

1. Android has nothing that compares to the functionality of Siri. Period.

2. Siri works as long as you have a data connection of any sort (Siri needs to connect to Apple's servers in order to work...this is why she wasn't working as well when the phone came out on the 14th...Apple's servers were overloaded and couldn't handle all of Siri's requests).

3. Having to root your Android to get the same functionality/OS upgrades is hardly functional. I'll be the first to admit that iOS still misses the mark on a lot of things for me, and I will be jailbreaking 5th iPhone when it's available.

4. The Nexus *seems* nice and all, but until it's released and there are relative comparisons, it's all just specs. Same with the Razr.

5. I'm honestly disappointed with the lack of some upgrades that I expected with this release (larger screen, more RAM), but the quickness over the 4 is just astounding. On the flip side, even with conditioning and cycling, battery life has me a bit on the flustered side. If not for my external battery case, I'd be screwed every day.

6. Tell Siri you want some weed.

7. I've had no problems with 6FL on my 4, and there have been no fundamental changes in the connection port of the phone, so the snap-in adapter should work, as well. My phone charges just fine, and plays music just like it used to.

8. Siri works on the 4, but it's not available to the general public yet. I'd also have some concern about Apple's servers noticing that iPhone 4's are connecting to the Siri network, and realizing they're likely jailbroken phones, and what they might do as a result.

Lmao..people are so technology inclined..android has had something similar to this for a long time. Iphone just copied it and amplified it..pointless app

Totally wrong, SIRI got its start at DARPA.

Quote:

Siri, before you became the premiere feature of the new iPhone 4S, where did you come from?

Spencer, I started out as a gleam in the eye of Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research agency, as your Wired colleague Steven Levy tweeted. Darpa thought my artificial-intelligence algorithms for data collection and organization could help the military plan better. Would you like me to find you some references for that?

I would, Siri, thank you.

As it turns out, Siri — the voice-activated data assistant available on Apple’s iPhone upgrade — is a veteran. Nearly 10 years ago, Darpa funded a project known as PAL, for Personalized Assistant that Learns. It was an adaptive AI program for both data retrieval and data synthesis. (So not entirely like search, but not dissimilar, either.) If you told PAL what information you needed, and it observed what you did with that information, it would figure out a more efficient path to acquiring and sorting relevant information the next time around.

The project started out with a California company called SRI International. With a five-year, multimillion dollar grant from Darpa under the PAL program, SRI developed a system called CALO, for Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes. (Check out this handy chart of its architecture.) ”The goal of the project is to create cognitive software systems,” it explained, “that is, systems that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise.”

Put more simply, “The idea is to develop a system that will adapt to the user, instead of the other way around,” a PAL project partner told a fresh-faced Noah Shachtman way back in 2003. Technophobic New York Times columnist William Safire sputtered that Darpa was ushering in “a world light-years beyond the Matrix,” with dire implications for the person “that PAL’s user is looking at, listening to, sniffing or conspiring with to blow up the world?”

As Darpa tried to show in the corny instructional video above, PAL didn’t work the way Safire thought it did. In the video’s hypothetical scenario, the military is in the middle of a humanitarian aid mission when a terrorist group fires a rocket-propelled grenade at a cargo plane. PAL — then quaintly hosted on a desktop — anticipates an officer’s question. “These-are-the-additional-security-forces-in-theater-that-are-available,” a Vocodered voice from a computer tells the officer, like it was the Enterprise answering Captain Kirk, as icons pop up on a screen to illustrate the point.

An Air Force major, new to the fictional task force, gets up to speed on the aid mission by asking PAL for displays of the command plan. “These are my priorities,” he tells it, tapping the screen with his finger. (Darpa seems to have anticipated that by the time PAL was ready, everyone would have a touchscreen desktop monitor.) And just like that, the major has planned his day, telling PAL what briefings he plans to attend. “Here-are-the-materials-you-need-for-the-meeting,” PAL replied, as it collated them into a folder.

Perhaps PAL was geared to be more like a PDA than the Enterprise’s computer. (No bureaucratic headquarters task is too complicated for a super-algorithm!) Then again, once PAL is networked with other officers’ PALs, it becomes easy to spot the erratic behavior of a fictional ship, alerting the task force to a potential terrorist threat.

By 2008 — with the PAL project not bearing fruit — SRI didn’t want to miss out on the commercial opportunities of iPhone apps. So it spun off a company called Siri Incorporated to develop what became the first iteration of the Siri app — a so-called “do engine” that weaved user preferences with existing web functions to, say, let you know what time the nearest Iron Man showing started. (It wasn’t voice-activated.) Apple thought the Siri’s tech showed promise, so it paid a rumored $150 to $200 million for the company. On Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook finally explained what Apple had in mind.

seriously great article... I have a BB and I have been strongly considering getting an Iphone4s just for this function.

I am writing emails all day long and setting appointments. I spend about 2-3 hours in my car and it makes it difficult to type while driving. Often times I will have back to back phone calls and end up forgetting to set an appointment that was made in the original phone call because I don't have time to type it in.

seriously great article... I have a BB and I have been strongly considering getting an Iphone4s just for this function.

I am writing emails all day long and setting appointments. I spend about 2-3 hours in my car and it makes it difficult to type while driving. Often times I will have back to back phone calls and end up forgetting to set an appointment that was made in the original phone call because I don't have time to type it in.

How are you guys using it? Or is it just a novelty at the moment?

I use it for exactly what you are describing. I "write" quick emails to people, reminders to do things when I get to home or office and set appointments after calls. Takes a bit to get used to exactly how you have to say some words, but after that learning curve, it's awesome!